Chapter 2: Land Of Hope & Glory

The bands agreement with Jerry Dammers 2-Tone label was limited to just the one record, 2-Tone itself was only commited to releasing albums by the Specials and Selecter and the deal was only ever intended as a launching pad for the band.

With the release date of the bands first single fast approaching, Madness played their highest profile gig to date, the Electric Ballroom in Camden, as support to the Specials and Selecter. The gig on the 21st of July 1979 was sold out and climaxed with all three bands on stage running through the Skinhead anthem Longshot Kick The Bucket, originally a favourite from the Pioneers.

July the 29th saw the band open for the Pretenders at the Lyceum and, on the 10th of August, 'The Prince' was finally in the shops. The music papers raved over the single, the NME stating that "No juke box should be without a copy", soon the record resided alongside the Special A.K.A.s 'Gangsters' release in many record machines up and down the country.

The 14th of August took Madness to the hallowed turf of BBC Radio 1 to record a session for John Peel. Four tracks were recorded, Bed & Breakfast Man, Land Of Hope & Glory, Stepping Into Line and another version of The Prince, which sounded even better than the single, (dodgy guitar echo though). The group embarked on a series of promotional gigs including a bank holiday concert at the Lyceum on the 26th of August with The Selecter and Secret Affair.

The next day the John Peel session was aired for the first time and the single was gradually building up a head of steam, finally, on the 1st of September 1979, Madness appeared on the national chart for the first time. The record eventually made the top 40 and the band played Top Of The Pops, something that all groups dreamed of in the days before the programme nosedived.

With the 2-Tone contract fulfilled Madness were now looking for a suitable deal from which they could produce an album. The success of The Prince ensured that there was no shortage of interested labels, all waving pieces of paper with sign here and lots of ineligable small print on. It was Stiff Records who eventually won the day, the label was set up in 1977 by Dave Robinson and it`s major successes were Elvis Costello and Ian Dury.

Dave Robinson: "I`d heard, several people had mentioned to me that this was a band that might suit Stiff, and I just couldn`t get to see them, they weren`t playing when I was available or...they were only playing a few gigs at the time. So the only time I could audition them really was at my wedding, I was getting married and I thought, that`s my chance to see them, why don`t we ask them if they`d play the wedding, and they said they would. They came and played the wedding, my wife gave me hell afterwards saying, you haven`t spoken to me all night your up there watching the band.

They were very good, it was ideal, it was a big kind of record biz kind of party and they were great. I decided there and then that they were likely, and signed them up as soon after as I could. Well in hindsight one shouldn`t have done it but I suppose one was in a state of euphoric chaos, so it seemed like a good idea, God it could`ve been terrible!

Stiff wasted no time in getting the band into the studio, not that they were reluctent of course - they couldn`t wait to start work on an album, and the sessions for what was eventually to become One Step Beyond began. Within three weeks the album was complete and Madness had agreed to be a part of the 2-Tone tour, The official tour kicked off in Brighton on October the 19th and Madness would be part of the package until the 15th of November when Dexys Midnight Runners were due to replace them.

On the 27th of October, Violence erupted at the Hatfield Polytechnic, a group of thugs proclaiming themselves as the Hatfield Anti-Fascist League burst in through a fire exit and started slashing people with Stanley knives, the press jumped on the story, assuming that bands containing skinheads must be racist, irrespective of black members. Unfortunately many people don`t realise that a short haircut, boots and braces doesn`t make a racist, it is the skinhead style that has been adopted by the fascists not vice verse.

The violence cost the bands Road Manager Kellogs his job, having been on the road with Madness during the tour he substituted a deputy after the U.E.A. gig in Norwich, the next day the incident occured, and when Kellogs arrived in the Stiff office on Monday Dave Robinson fired him.

Kellogs: After I`d been dismissed from Stiff Records for not being at this particular gig where this blood shed was occuring, I did phone them up for some reason and in fact I think it was Lee that got on the phone to me, and who was really sorry say - 'Hey you got fired, that was our fault, what happened? etc'. And I suddenly realised, God these boys really care for me...in a way you know, they appreciated, I`m summising this, not reading anybody`s mind, but they appreciated what I was trying to do for them, show them the ropes you know.

I know fairly well what it`s like life for the band on the road and I don`t think they knew at that point in time, they certainley do now. Anyway we sort of got talking again and ,as it transpired, after the 2-Tone tour,in fact before the end of the 2-Tone tour, they were off to America to do a couple of weeks there for good old Sire Records, and they asked me to go with them as their, sort of, tour manager to look after them, anyway eventually it transpired that I started managing them, that was the beginning of 1980.

Meanwhile the album One Step Beyond was ready for shipping, the title track was also issued on single, the choice of the track was an easy one for Dave Robinson:

"There was a track they had called 'One Step Beyond', which really struck me. It was an instrumental with a few kind of shouts in it, and 'I thought well that`s it. When you try and find a band, the problem with every band is to try and find the first single, try and find the one that will do well and attract peoples attention and they had a large breadth of material after that, so I thought if I could find the first single I could easily find the rest, and I decided that that really was the first single. I went away and thought, 'One Step Beyond' - great title for an album, you know it just had that today`s music today kind of feel about it, it`s like a slogan.

The single came in 7 " and 12" flavours, the latter including the bonus cut 'Nutty Theme' and the album featured 15 tracks ranging from TV themes to Tchaicovski. One of the promotional stunts Paul Conroy of Stiff managed to pull was at the Virgin Megastore, anyone who bought a copy of the album was entitled to a free skinhead haircut and Conroy was the first to be shorn.

Madness also filmed their first video during the 2-Tone tour, the now classic footage of the band doing the One Step Beyond/Nutty walk is probably the first thing anyone thinks of when the band are mentioned. The video was directed by Chuck Stadler and was mainly shot at the Hope & Anchor.

After a few extra dates the band were off to the good old US of A where their records were issued by Sire, unfortunatley the label hadn`t got round to releasing 'One Step Beyond' by the time they arrived and so few people had ever heard of them. Meanwhile back in Blighty the single finally peaked at number 7. When the band returned this was aided by more Top Of The Pops appearances, complete with Suggs pretending to play the Sax before the band set among the studio audience to do the nutty walk.

Originally the band had wanted 'My Girl' to be their first release on Stiff, but they had to go along with Dave Robinsons wishes and wait until the 21st of December for it to become Madness single No.3. With only four shopping days left until Christmas, the record was never going to be the festive number one.

By now the 2-Tone movement was in full swing, everyone had a black & white christmas. The Specials debut album was high in the chart riding on the success of their second 45, 'A Message To You Rudy', The Selecter had a hit with 'On My Radio' and The Beat were on many peoples Christmas shopping lists with 'Tears Of A Clown'.

If 1979 was the dawning of a new era, a chequered sun arose on the horizon in 1980. Madness played on the first Top Of The Pops of the new year, 'My Girl' stormed up the charts and should have been a number one, unfortunately Pink Floyd and The Pretenders held it up before the Nutty Boys were well and truly trumped by The Specials.

Jerry Dammers and Co. hit the top spot on February the 2nd with their live EP featuring 'Too Much, Too Young' and some wicked slices of skinhead moonstomping. Madness did have the consolation of being French chart toppers but insult was added to injury when Kenny Rogers knocked the Specials off the top slot with 'Coward Of The County'.

Following various gigs across Europe and throughout Britain during January, Madness arrived at the Hammersmith Odeon on February the 16th for a concert especially for their younger fans. The matinee performance sold out the very day tickets were put on sale and the popularity of the idea ensured that similar gigs would follow.

Before the band had time to put their feet up in front of a warm fire they were back on board a plane heading for the states. The pressure of touring was beginning to take it`s toll, not only on Madness but also the Specials, who were also touring stateside , as Dammers said at the time: "Will the Specials break America or will America break us ?"

On March th 28th Stiff released another single from One Step Beyond, well quarter of a single from the album actually. The 4 track EP the label issued was released without the bands full consent, the lead track being 'Night Boat To Cairo'. Although Madness really wanted a couple of tracks remixed, in the long run Stiff Records had got it right, 'Night Boat' eventually took the 'Work,Rest & Play' EP to No.6, and although it had a relatively short chart run of just 8 weeks, the song was a firm favourite with fans.

After shooting the video the band were back on the road, first across the continent before returning home for a UK tour. Overseas Madness were kicking up a major storm, the image of the band meant that the language barrier was never a problem.

Woody: "Italy was just phenomenal, I mean it really was, incredible. They had a five year ban, or something, on all live acts in Italy from foreign lands, and we came in to maniac crowds, I mean it was just such a buzz. I mean they went really potty in Padova, they came through the glass panelings with sledgehammers and axes, and their were riot police in there, you know...'I`m an Italian and I want to see a gig, I don`t need a ticket'. It was brilliant, really brilliant.

The UK tour finished in June and the band took a well deserved break until August, when they played a couple of dates in Nottingham, before completeing their second album. September the 5th saw the release of the bands next single, 'Baggy Trousers', a retrospective view of the best years of ones life. The record was accompanied by a memorable video, and it soon became the most talked about single of the moment. Madness seemed to be everywhere you looked, newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, everyone wanted a piece of the band.

Surprisingly the single stalled at No.3, The Police being the main culprit for the records shortfall as they held the top slot with 'Don`t Stand So Close To Me'. Woody got married to Jane from the all girl group The Modettes and on the 26th of September the second album, 'Absolutely', was released. The album held a much darker mood than it`s predecessor 'One Step Beyond', tracks such as 'Overdone' and 'Not Home Today' showed the band in a new light, although it did conclude on a cheery note.

Woody: "When Mark, Mike and I were running through it, there was only the three of us, Mike had the chords and the notes and was going through it. We finally found a rhythm that fitted, Mark had the bass line, and the more I heard it the more I wanted to go - 'hey ! Cha-cha-cha', you know come dancing. I said, you know we`ve got a do a few like stops, just as corny as possible `cos it was just there.

The track in question of course is 'The Return Of The Los Palmas 7', the brief instrumental that closed the album. The song also gave Woody his first composing credit, and the album sleeve credited him not only with drums but also fire extinguisher, maybe he picked it up in Padova!

On September the 27th, the bands infamous appearance on Saturday morning TVs Tiswas took place. With Suggs & Carl dressed up in clowns costumes as the Co-co Twins, the band managed not only to get themselves banned from the show but the entire Stiff label following an incident involving presenter Sally James, Suggs and some whipped cream!

Following the huge success of 'Baggy Trousers', Stiff wasted no time in issuing a follow up in the form of 'Embarrassment'. The record was released on the 14th of November 1980 and the band then set off across the UK on their 12 days of Christmas tour. As if Madness weren`t in enough mags as it was, their fan club decided to produce their own comic, The Nutty Boys. The first issue was available at the Christmas gigs and it featured a cartoon strip depicting the bands rise to fame, as well as fact files and bad jokes.

The tour finished with an extra date at the Hammersmith Odeon on Christmas eve and with 'Embarressment' peaking at No.4 in the chart the band were awarded the accolade of Best Singles Act of 1980. The 27th of December had Madness playing at Elvis Costello`s Christmas concert at the NEC before the band settled down to prepare for the new year.

Andy Clayden, 1999.